Many mechanical means have been provided in the past for use with guitars and similarly stringed instruments, but these means have been generally directed to simplifying the plucking of the strings by replacing manual plucking with mechanical plucking means. Examples of such means are those disclosed and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 921,565 (Scarlett); 2,429,138 (Ruf); and 3,292,975 (Koniecki). Means have also been provided for changing the pitch of a string as it is plucked or strummed by lengthening or shortening the string, such as is disclosed and described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,574,881 to McBride.
No known means have been heretofore provided whereby the notes of a stringed instrument can be mechanically actuated like the strings in a piano.